1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an insulating apparatus for goods to be kept cool, such as frozen goods, chilled goods held at about 0.degree. C., cooled goods held at about 10.degree. C., etc., used in case of keeping the goods in containers and delivering the goods to stores or general households or temporarily stocking the goods in such a manner that the containers are individually maintained cool and insulated.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Goods to be cooled can be generally categorized to three types of frozen, chilled and cooled as described above. To deliver the goods, the goods have been heretofore contained in containers made of foamed polystyrene together with dry ice, cold storage reagent or ice.
According to the above method, an ordinary delivery vehicle can carry the goods to be cooled together with other types of goods, but since the insulation enabling time of the container is short, such as 5 to 10 hours, the above-described containers are not adequate when the delivery takes a long time, such as a long distance delivery or a delivery route (through branches and several delivery centers) like a general delivery. In such a case, a refrigerator or a special insulating vehicle must be employed. According to this method, the equipment is expensive, and since an exclusive insulation vehicle is used, general goods cannot be carried together with the goods required to be maintained cool. Further, since the vehicle must make the trip even if the quantity of the goods to be cooled is small, the delivery costs are increased. In addition, since the refrigerator in the insulating vehicle is maintained at uniform temperature, the goods to be frozen, chilled and cooled, each requiring different storage temperatures, cannot be contained together. Moreover, when the insulating vehicle or the refrigerator is employed, the door is opened whenever the goods are delivered, and chilled gas is readily leaked.